1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electronic component holder. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electronic component holder that holds LEDs or other such electronic components so as not to fall out.
2. Background Information
FIGS. 10-12 show a conventional electronic component holder H1 used to mount an LED 101 to a printed wiring board of a remote control. As shown in FIG. 10, the electronic component holder H1 has a holder body 120 and a pair of left and right inverted L-shaped legs 123. The holder body 120 has two horizontal grooves 103 and two vertical grooves 104. The two horizontal grooves 103 are formed in a top face of the holder body 120. Two lead wires 102 of the LED 101 are passed through openings 106 in a front face of the holder body 120 and are disposed in the two horizontal grooves 103. As shown in FIG. 11, the two vertical grooves 104 are formed in a back face of the holder body 120. The two lead wires 102 are bent at a substantially right angle and disposed in the two vertical grooves 104. The legs 123 are provided to both side faces of the holder body 120. The legs 123 protrude from the side faces of the holder body 120. Distal ends of the legs 123 are fixedly attached to the printed wiring board.
With the electronic component holder H1, the lead wires 102 of the LED 101 are not fixed in either the horizontal grooves 103 or the vertical grooves 104. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 12, during the course of mounting the LED 101 to a printed wiring board, the lead wires 102 of the LED 101 would lift up from the horizontal grooves 103 and the vertical grooves 104. Thus, the lead wires 102 come out through the openings 106 in the holder front face causing the LED 101 to readily fall out of the holder H1. Consequently, this lowers the efficiency in mounting the LED 101 with the electronic component holder H1 to the printed wiring board. In addition, accurate positioning of the LED 101 in the fore and aft direction is difficult.
Meanwhile, another conventional electronic component attachment device has a socket and a contact member (See Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application H05-251876, for example). The socket has insertion holes in which lead terminals of an electronic component are inserted. The contact member is formed in the insertion holes. The contact member includes a pair of spring catches. The pair of spring catches hold the lead terminals elastically.
With the electronic component attachment device, the lead terminals of the electronic component are elastically held by the pair of spring catches fitted inside the insertion holes of the socket to prevent the electronic component from falling out of the socket. However, the contact member including the spring catches has to be formed and fitted into the insertion holes of the socket along with inserting the lead terminals of the electronic component. This increases the number of parts required, drives up the cost of manufacturing, and also increases assembly time. Consequently, this lowers manufacturing efficiency.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved electronic component holder. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.